Schools find blocking the Web formidable

Students undeterred by security filters on class computers.

May 10, 2004|By Genevieve Marshall Of The Morning Call

Protecting students from their own curiosity -- and occasionally from innocent Web searches that lead them astray -- has become a pressing problem in some Lehigh Valley school districts that are heavily emphasizing technology in the classroom.

As the number of computers available for students has soared and the Internet is used in class more frequently, so has the number of students trying to access inappropriate Web sites on school computers.

Parents might think their children are safe from unsavory elements when using the Internet at school, but they're not. Schools' security measures can only go so far, said Scott Garrigan, the Bethlehem Area School District's technology director.

The filters block most, but not all inappropriate Web sites, such as those that have nudity, profane language or other adult material. The filters also prevent Web searches that feature words related to the objectionable sites.

But sometimes students need to go to Internet sites that are blocked by the filters because of the words they feature. A "teen" counseling site, or the Supreme Court's "oral" arguments page are two examples.

In Bethlehem Area, those words must be taken out of the content filters, and some nefarious Web sites invariably slip through.

"It's just not possible to guard kids against every unsavory element on the Internet," Garrigan said. "New Web sites crop up every day.

"Children have to be held responsible. We have kids that are regularly disciplined for accessing material they have no business looking at."

Last week, Tameka Towns was shocked to learn that her daughter Asia, 11, was able to enter a teen Web site that hosts a chat room while using a Donegan Elementary School computer. Under the user name "hotbitch," she was able to talk with an anonymous person, who could have been another teenager or a convicted sex offender.

"I thought the school prevented kids from getting into stuff like that," Towns said. "She could have been taken advantage of by some old man with a dirty mind."

Towns said her daughter, who is in fifth grade, was told about the chat room by another student. The older girl gave Asia her user name and password, which Asia used to enter the site during class. A group of students crowded around to look.

Asia's teacher saw what she was doing and made her get off the computer. Her punishment, doled out by the principal, was a five-day suspension.

Towns thought the punishment was too harsh and complained to district administrators. A more appropriate punishment would have been to ban Asia from using school computers for the rest of the year, she said.

Bethlehem Area students and their parents sign a computer network and Internet use policy at the beginning of each school year, said Monty Perfetti, the district's director of operations, planning, and special programs.

"The kids know what they're allowed to do on the Internet and what isn't allowed," he said. "When they go somewhere inappropriate, we consider whether they meant to go to the site or if they surfed there accidentally.

"We look at: Did they threaten someone online?" Perfetti said. "Did the child disobey a teacher? That's what the punishment is based on."

The district has a code of conduct for students that addresses appropriate disciplinary actions for various offenses, but there is no category for Internet-related offenses, he said.

For that reason, there also is no way to know how many Bethlehem Area students are caught each year looking at inappropriate Web sites.

But the number is most likely growing, simply because of the number of computers available to students, he said.

Students who hacked into the district's computer system have been expelled for destruction of property because of the cost of getting the system working again, he said.

Bethlehem schools have about 5,500 computers for more than 15,000 students to use, about one computer for every three students. Two years ago, the ratio was closer to 1-to-5.

The district soon will begin letting sixth- and seventh-graders take their laptop computers home, perhaps within the next year. Other Lehigh Valley school districts, including Easton, are exploring similar 1-to-1 initiatives, where each student is issued a computer.

Unlimited home access to school-provided computers -- and in some cases, school-sponsored Internet access -- could make the problem worse, school officials say.

"We may have to start keeping a separate log of incidents that happen through technology," Perfetti said. "We talk about the code of conduct every summer, and this is going on our agenda this year."